Former Secretary of State Hilary R. Clinton was the only person empowered by law to authorize the occupation of U.S. diplomatic facilities in Libya before the deadly terror attacks there last year, because the buildings did not meet State Department security standards, a House hearing heard Wednesday."It's my understanding only the secretary of state could waive those requirements," said Eric Nordstrom, who was regional security officer for the embassy in Libya until a few months before the attack.
The security standards were introduced after the bombing attacks against U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, he said.
| Oh yeah, that. We were attempting to learn from past mistakes. Embassies were successfully bombed because security standards were lax, so we said, "okay we'll tighten up security, and in order to use a substandard facility in the future the Boss has to say it's okay." Well the Boss said okay, and her decision failed. And cost four lives. But don't ask her to say anything about it. |
He spoke at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which heard testimony from State Department officials who were on the ground in Libya before and during the attacks.
He said the State Department-chartered investigation, known as an Accountability Review Board or ARB, had failed to interview senior-enough officials.
"It stopped short of the very people it should have asked -- Undersecretary for Management [Patrick] Kennedy and above," he said.
| Gee, an 'internal review' that wasn't very tough, didn't ask people questions, didn't ask the right questions, and white-washed the boss. Whoda thunkit? |
